JUNE
Chapter 19
Carlos’ phone practically jumped across the desk. Set to vibration mode, whatever was happening in its little electronic innards was causing a riot. Carlos grabbed it before it leapt off the edge and glanced at his new message, marked urgent. Grab your lunch and meet me on the roof, Everett’s text commanded.
Carlos knew Everett needed to leave for the airport in about an hour so he didn’t hesitate to make his way to the third floor kitchen and grab his lunch bag from the refrigerator. The clang of the metal stairs resounded in his ears as he climbed the spiral up to the roof.
It was a warm day and Everett sat in a shaded spot against the chiller unit, his back to it and his gaze fixed on the vast view of the bay and the land beyond.
“What’s up?” Carlos sat on the wooden bench of the rough picnic table opposite his friend.
Everett smiled at him. “What do you have today?”
“A turkey sandwich on gluten-free bread.” He pulled the sandwich from his bag. “And pudding.” Carlos produced the round container of vanilla pudding out of the bag and set it between them on the table in offering.
Everett held his hands up. “All you, man. I’m flying first class all the way to Chicago. They’ll feed me on the plane.”
“Suit yourself.” Ignoring the sandwich, Carlos plunged into the pudding and waited for Everett to tell him what was on his mind.
“How are things?”
Carlos nodded, a globby chunk of pudding in his mouth. Then he pulled the container of homemade pudding up to his eyes and examined it.
“Something wrong?” Everett asked.
“It just tastes a little weird. Amy must have mixed it differently,” Carlos said, shrugging.
A deep silence overtook them for a moment as Carlos ate and Everett chewed on whatever was on his mind. Eventually, Everett broke through the quiet. “Speaking of Amy, how are things going with her?”
Carlos took the last bite of the small helping of pudding before setting it aside. “Good. She moved in with me last week.”
“Hmmm,” was Everett’s only response.
“Why?” Carlos examined his best friend’s face.
Everett’s expression was neutral. “I just wonder about her, you know.”
“No. I don’t know. What do you mean?”
“I heard you’re her first serious boyfriend. Is that true?”
“Yeah. So?”
“It’s a little weird isn’t it? She’s what? In her late twenties?”
Carlos leaned forward, his arms pressing into the uneven wood of the picnic table. He wasn’t about to reveal Amy’s secrets and he didn’t see why it would be relevant anyway. He didn’t like this line of questioning. “What are you getting at?”
“Look. I’m just looking out for you, Carlos. You’re my best friend. And I know your track record with women is total shit. So…I’m asking. What do we really know about this girl?”
Carlos thumped his chest with two fingers. “I know a whole hell of a lot about her.” Before his anger could get away with him, he leaned back and took a deep breath. “I guess I haven’t given you a real chance to get to know her. I’ve been keeping her to myself. Believe me, Everett, she’s amazing. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
Everett’s eyes narrowed and he stared into Carlos’ face for a long moment. Then, abruptly, he looked away and sat back, his gaze shifting to the blue water peeking out behind Carlos. “Okay, man. If you’re happy. I’m happy.” Everett stood and moved around the table. “I gotta get going. I’ll see you in a few days.” He patted Carlos on the shoulder and took off.
****
Amy stared at the computer screen, butterflies completely overwhelming her stomach. The email she’d typed was monumental, even if its tone was casual. She ran over the number she’d pulled up from her bank account moments ago, then hit send.
It was a simple inquiry about the business for sale on the edge of town. It was an inquiry that took into account the money in her bank combined with the pre-approved loan she’d discussed with her banker. It was an inquiry that could lead her one step closer to owning a business.
Alone, it was overwhelming. With Carlos, it would be completely doable. The trouble was she hadn’t mentioned her desire to buy the ten year old training and adventure team building camp to him at all. In fact, she lived in utter terror at the prospect of telling him.
Having just moved in together, having just gone public to their work family, and having not had a single major conversation about their future, bringing up a joint business venture was absolutely nuts. And yet, she felt like she needed to do this, like they needed to do this. It was an elemental feeling that rose from the very center of her with absolutely no sense or reason.
The little clock on her desktop read four-thirty as she watched the electronic envelope zoom away. That’s when her desk phone rang. “Amy Trinkus,” she answered cheerily.
“Amy.” Carlos’ voice was rough and uneven. “I need your help.”
There wasn’t much conversation after she heard Carlos’ desperation. She hung up and headed up to his office right away.
She found him doubled over on his desk, his cheek resting against the wood. “Oh my God! What happened?” She ran around the desk to his side.
His face was pale, his brow sweaty. And he was literally folded over, his hands pressed against his stomach. “Kim,” he groaned.
“What?”
“She called just after this started. She…” He stopped to squeeze his eyes together. “Called to ask how I liked the pudding.”
Amy sucked in a deep breath.
“I thought it tasted funny,” he muttered.
“She poisoned it?”
“Hmmm. With wheat flour.”
“Jesus Christ! What a horrible fucking—”
“Amy,” he pleaded. “I need your help right now.”
“Okay. What do I do?” She flapped her hands uselessly at her sides.
“Fuck. I wish Everett were here.”
“What?” She was about to be offended when he let out a low groan. The painful sound made her pause.
“Kenny is pulling my car around to the side door in the alley. It’ll be easiest and fastest to get to it there. I’m gonna manage to get to the car and then I need you to drive me home.”
He was gruff, and on top of that, clearly unhappy with her presence. But he obviously felt like shit, so she didn’t say anything. Instead, she helped him get to the freight elevator that led to the side entrance where Kenny waited.
Kenny jumped out of the car and helped a very cranky Carlos into the passenger seat while Amy ran around to drive. They rode to the condo in silence, save for Carlos’ panting breaths and soft moans.
Carlos spent the first two hours after they arrived at the condo in the bathroom attached to the bedroom. Then he collapsed on the couch, his head resting on Amy’s lap.
She stroked his hair, damp with sweat, and got him to drink some water before he turned on his side and curled up in a ball, his cheek pressing into her thigh.
“I’m so sorry you have to see this,” he said softly. “She fucking knew Everett would be out of town.”
“Why, exactly, would you prefer Everett over me?” Amy tried to temper her question, but it was difficult not to let her irritation come through. She knew he was hurting, but preferring his friend over her in his time of need was really starting to bug her.
“It wouldn’t have mattered. I would have to come home anyway. And this will go on for a few days…I don’t know.”
Amy knew that his reaction to gluten was bad. They’d discussed it a little and she’d looked it up online. The tiny molecule caused his intestines to have an auto-immune reaction, attacking themselves. He digested nothing, he absorbed no nutrients, and his stomach cramped and obsessively emptied itself. The effects lasted for days, until it was all sorted out in there.
“I am trying not to give you a hard time when you are so miserable, Carlos. But why are you so opposed to me taking care of you when you’re sick?”
“I just hate that you have to see me this way,” he said, his voice thick.
Amy leaned down and kissed his temple. “Don’t be ridiculous. I love you. When you’re sick, I want to help. I don’t understand why on earth you would think any different.”
Carlos let out a deep breath. “Kim hated it when I got sick, even though it was usually her fault because she refused to keep our kitchen gluten-free. She thought I was…disgusting when I got ill. That’s why she did this, I’m sure. So you would see me this way. It was her way of sabotaging us.”
Amy took three deep breaths before speaking. “Well. I’m not her.”
Carlos rolled his head back so he could look at her. “Of course not. I’m sorry.”
“And I’m going to stay right here until you feel better. Except for the small amount of time I need to leave in order to murder your ex-wife. But I’ll wait until you fall asleep for that.”
****
Amy called both she and Carlos out sick on Friday. By Sunday evening he was finally feeling better and eating solid foods again. They’d even gone for a walk in the park near the condo. It was the furthest he’d been able to get from a bathroom since Thursday afternoon.
On Monday, Carlos worked from home while Amy went into the office. She sat in her cubie in the sales department seething over Kimberly and her evil lunch-tampering-ass.
Despite having promised Carlos she would steer clear of the Dragon Lady, she found herself making an excuse to run up to HR. With a divine sense of righteous indignation, she waltzed up to Kimberly’s open door and stood in the entrance until Kimberly looked up at her.
“Huh,” the evil witch said, looking up at Amy. “You look pissed.”
Amy stood, her arms crossed over her chest, her hip thrust out and resting against the doorframe, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “How very observant of you.”
“Why don’t you come in and shut the door?” Kimberly suggested, as if she weren’t a horrible human being.
Amy did as instructed, but instead of sitting in the chair Kimberly gestured to, she remained standing, leaning against the door, her hands clenched in fists and shoved safely into her elbows.
“You poisoned Carlos,” Amy accused.
“You can’t prove that,” Kimberly answered calmly.
Amy ignored the denial. “Why did you do it?”
Kimberly sat back in her chair, regarding Amy as if she were an insect of particular interest under a microscope. “I didn’t. But there is something you should know about Carlos and me.”
“There is no Carlos and you,” Amy said forcefully. “There is only Carlos and me.”
Kimberly smiled. “For now.”
Amy knew she shouldn’t rise to the challenge. But she couldn’t help it. At the moment she didn’t care that she was probably out matched by this terrible tyrant. She didn’t care that she would be back working for her again in less than three months.
“Not just for now,” she said through clenched teeth.
Kimberly crossed her legs and ticked up one corner of her blood-red painted mouth. “I hear you are relatively new to relationships.” She looked at Amy as if asking for confirmation. Amy wondered which part of the rumor mill she’d gotten that information from, but she didn’t move a single brow hair in response. “Well, anyway,” Kimberly continued. “Some relationships are complicated. And that’s how it is with Carlos and me. We can be apart for a long time, then we get back together. We can even get divorced. But it doesn’t end what we have. It never ended.”
Amy’s Aunt Beth had a relationship like this with YaYa’s father. They broke up and got back together several times before getting married and divorced twice more. But she didn’t believe for a moment Carlos and Kimberly were like that.
“Bullshit,” she said calmly.
“It’s true. And this thing—” Kimberly gestured to Amy “—between you and him. It’s temporary, sweetheart. Whether you accept it or not.”
Amy walked slowly toward Kimberly. She leaned over the desk, planting her palms on the slick wood. She towered over Kimberly, who still sat in her chair. “Don’t come near him. Don’t fuck with his food. Don’t fuck with him.”
Her warning delivered, Amy straightened and turned her back to her boss. She marched out of the office without a backward glance.